In the discussion on the article by @Aqua Box, on captive bred and wild caught fish @Lasse raised the idea of different species being more or less suitable for aquarium life:
That's something I've thought about as well... picking species that, by nature, stay in a small area. Not wanting to high jack the other thread I figured I'd start this one to hear what others think about the idea and how different fish fit in terms of this.
Obviously being in a glass box is different than being in the ocean. Presumably there are positives to that (steady access to food, lack of predators). But there are stresses as well. If we can pick species that won't be stressed out by the "confined" space then that has to increase the chances of a happy and healthy fish population.
Clowns and watchman Gobies seem to fit in with this idea (as Lasse mention) lawnmower Blennies seem like other likely candidates.
What are some others?
Tony
One thing that’s not had been discussed here yet - which species (fishes) is most ethical to have in captivity. There is an ethical concern about where the fishes comes from – the wild or captive bred – a concern that IMO is more to silence our own conscience than protecting the fish. The real ethical question for me is instead – should I take a species that is in nature lives in a very small spot of the reef or should I take the ones that swimming more freely over a large area? A clown lives in his anemone, a coral goby stay in their coral, a prawn goby stay in its hole, most cardinals stay in the same aggregate of fishes in the same small spot and so on. Some reef fishes may be the best fishes of all to have in our small boxes of glass because their natural behaviour are to live at the same small spot for the whole life. I try to have small, stationary species in my aquaria or species that adapt their territory according to feeding behaviours.
Sincerely Lasse
That's something I've thought about as well... picking species that, by nature, stay in a small area. Not wanting to high jack the other thread I figured I'd start this one to hear what others think about the idea and how different fish fit in terms of this.
Obviously being in a glass box is different than being in the ocean. Presumably there are positives to that (steady access to food, lack of predators). But there are stresses as well. If we can pick species that won't be stressed out by the "confined" space then that has to increase the chances of a happy and healthy fish population.
Clowns and watchman Gobies seem to fit in with this idea (as Lasse mention) lawnmower Blennies seem like other likely candidates.
What are some others?
Tony